Open When You Need To Laugh Novels & Stories

The matter was closed with immediate effect. I sat there for a moment. And then I laughed. Not a polite laugh or a measured one. An actual laugh, the kind that came from somewhere below the chest, the kind that had not been available to me for two weeks because I had been too busy being careful and documented and professionally appropriate to just sit in a kitchen and laugh at the fact that it was actually over. I was still laughing when I grabbed my keys. I needed to share this good news with someone. I ran out and went next door.

It was a short, surprised sound that he tried to cough away almost immediately. But I felt it. It landed somewhere in the middle of my chest like a small, warm collision. It caught me off guard. I had spent so much time trying to manufacture a moment that when a real one happened, I didn't know what to do with it. "You should do that more often," I said quietly. "Do what?" "Laugh. It makes you look less like you’re planning a murder." Eli flushed slightly and looked back at his notebook. "Let’s just get through the next section, Cain."

The one that was also my mother's and my grandmother's and Maren's first response to mine. He held me while I laughed. When I settled he said, very quietly: "There it is." "Yes," I said. "I've been waiting," he said. "For the laugh?" I said. "For the specific laugh that isn't about anything," he said. "Not about something that happened. Just you, finding something funny, the laugh that comes from somewhere below the thinking." He held me. "You've been tired. The good tired, the Maren tired but tired." He held me. "I've been waiting for that laugh."

I burst into laughter yet again, leaning back in my chair and letting the joy sweep through me – because of course, if you didn’t grow up hearing that, it really is just gross, isn’t it? “Just something we say,” I say, wiping at my eyes a little, my body still shaking with mirth. “I think to make people feel better when that happens to them.” He laughs too, grinning at me and understanding. I sigh then, and look back at Conner, who is still sitting on the little couch flicking through his phone. “I guess I should –“

I gently touched my cheek. “I can’t believe people get scared of a pretty cute face like mine,” I whispered to myself, momentarily forgetting the previous night's drama, forgetting how I had physically shoved a terrified mistress back into my husband’s arms. “The only thing that brings me joy is me.” Knock. Knock. Knock. Three sharp, demanding raps shattered the quiet of the morning. My little smile faded instantly, wiped away by the tension tightening my shoulders.

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-SEVEN Various POVs Ocean Storm laughs for the first time on a Tuesday morning in February. Not a full laugh. Not yet. It’s the preliminary version... that bright burst of air and delight babies make before they’ve developed the full machinery of laughter. It lasts maybe two seconds and then disappears, like he’s still figuring out what this sound is for. I’m the one who causes it.

"Stupid people who ask questions, sure, but no crazy questions." Shawn groaned a laugh. "Yeah, he’s right. My bad." Elizabeth narrowed her eyes, and Shawn could tell the woman was tempted to slap him again. Shawn always dealt with life-or-death situations like this one in the only way he knew how: with laughter. That old saying about having to laugh so you won't cry has been a valuable tool throughout the years.

“Whаt are уоu lаughіng аt?” Mу еуеѕ were still сlоѕеd, but I didn’t need tо open them tо knоw just whо thаt delicious vоісе bеlоngеd tо. “Oh juѕt a рrіvаtе jоkе.” I wiped thе tеаrѕ аwау, ореnіng my eyes to take іn thе vision bеfоrе mе.

Xx I laugh again, pocketing my phone and knocking on Laura's door. She opens it, looking red faced and flustered and I'm adamant to get the truth out of her this week.

Marcel felt like he is a god while the two of them are sinners who asked for his forgiveness. Marcel's laughter erupted like the cackle of a maniac, wild and unrestrained. His eyes grew wide with mirth as he threw his head back, clutching his stomach as if in pain. The sound echoed through the room, filling it with a sense of chaos and unpredictability. It was a laugh that sent shivers down the spines of those who heard it because it was clear that Marcel was not in his right mind. As the laughter subsided, he looked around with a twisted grin on his face.